Da alfândega ao Valongo: A entrada dos cativos africanos no Rio de Janeiro no século dezenove sob uma nova perspectiva historiográfica

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the practices employed at the ports of Rio de Janeiro pertaining to the African slave trade during the two first decades of the nineteenth century. Based on the conceptual differences between disembarkation and final discharge of the enslaved, we compare new data obtained from unpublished primary sources with chroniclers’ accounts and previously known historical documents. From this perspective, the text presents a consistent and plausible vision of the slave importation process, revealing the importance of the Customs House of Rio de Janeiro as the first landing place, and moving to the littoral of Saúde, in the old neighborhood of Valongo, the site of final discharge of African captives. This is in contrast to the current theory that the Valongo Wharf, located on the Valonguinho Cove, would have been the gateway for the thousands of African captives who arrived in Rio de Janeiro.